华盛顿——上周申请失业救济的美国人数量骤降至52年来的最低水平，这进一步证明美国就业市场正在从去年的水平复苏冠状病毒经济衰退。
美国劳工部周四表示，上周申请失业救济人数减少4.3万人，至18.4万人，为1969年9月以来最低。四周移动平均线平滑了周与周之间的起伏，跌破219，000点，这是自2020年3月疫情重创美国以来的最低水平。
阿姆赫斯特皮尔庞特证券公司首席经济学家斯蒂芬·斯坦利说，季节性波动可能是上周下跌的原因之一，因为劳工部调整了数据以反映假期前后的就业市场波动。在季节性调整之前，索赔实际上增加了近64，000至近281，000。
不过，斯坦利在一份研究报告中表示，“潜在趋势仍在下降，应该低于疫情会议之前的水平...对工人的未满足需求比当时大得多，裁员似乎明显减少。''
总体而言，截至11月27日的一周，只有不到200万美国人领取传统失业救济金。
自1月初每周申请人数突破90万以来，作为裁员指标的每周申请人数在今年大部分时间里稳步下降。现在已经低于2020年3月冠状病毒疫情袭击美国经济之前的每周22万人的典型水平;新冠肺炎强迫消费者呆在家里健康预防措施和企业关闭或减少工作时间和裁员。去年3月和4月，雇主削减了惊人的2240万个工作岗位。
大规模的政府援助和疫苗的推出帮助重振了经济和就业市场，给了美国人信心和财力去进行购物狂欢，通常是在网上，购买草坪家具和咖啡机等商品。自去年4月以来，美国已经恢复了近1850万个工作岗位。但经济仍比2020年2月的水平少390万个工作岗位，经济前景仍然容易受到omicron等COVID变体的影响。
劳工部上周报告称，雇主上个月增加了令人失望的21万个工作岗位。但报告也显示，失业率从10月份的4.6%降至4.2%的疫情低点。
该部门周三报告称，10月份雇主公布了接近创纪录的1100万个职位空缺。报告还称，有420万人辞职——刚刚打破9月份440万人的记录——这表明他们对自己的前景有足够的信心去寻找更好的工作。
直到9月6日，联邦政府还通过每周支付300美元的额外费用来补充州失业保险计划，并将福利扩大到临时工和失业6个月或更长时间的人。包括联邦项目在内，接受某种形式失业援助的美国人数在2020年6月达到峰值，超过3300万。
US jobless claims at 52-year low amid seasonal volatility
WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plunged last week to the lowest level in 52 years, more evidence that the U.S. job market is recovering from last year'scoronavirusrecession.
Unemployment claims dropped by 43,000 to 184,000 last week, the lowest since September 1969, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week moving average, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, fell below 219,000, lowest since the pandemic hit the United States hard in March 2020.
Seasonal volatility likely contributed to last week's drop as the Labor Department adjusted the numbers to reflect job market fluctuations around the holidays, said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities. Before seasonal adjustments, claims actually rose by nearly 64,000 to almost 281,000.
Still, Stanley said in a research note that “the underlying trend remains downward and should be lower than it was prior to the pandemic ... The unfilled demand for workers is much larger than it was then and layoffs appear to be noticeably lower.''
Overall, just under 2 million Americans were collecting traditional unemployment benefits the week that ended Nov. 27.
Weekly claims, which are a proxy for layoffs, have fallen steadily most of the year since topping 900,000 one week in early January. They are now below to the 220,000-a-week level typical before the coronavirus pandemic slammed the U.S. economy in March 2020; COVID-19 forced consumers to stay home ashealthprecaution and businesses to close or reduce hours and to lay off staff. In March and April last year, employers shed a staggering 22.4 million jobs.
Massive government aid and the rollout of vaccines helped revive the economy and the job market by giving Americans the confidence and financial wherewithal to go on a shopping spree, often online, for goods such as lawn furniture and coffee makers. Since April last year, the United States has regained nearly 18.5 million jobs. But the economy is still 3.9 million jobs short of where it stood in February 2020 and the prospects for the economy remain vulnerable to COVID variants such as omicron.
The Labor Department reported last week that employers added a disappointing 210,000 jobs last month. But the report also showed that the unemployment rate dropped to a pandemic low of 4.2% from 4.6% in October.
And the department reported Wednesday that employers posted a near-record 11 million job openings in October. It also said that 4.2 million people quit their jobs — just off the September record of 4.4 million — a sign that they are confident enough in their prospects to look for something better.
Until Sept. 6, the federal government had supplemented state unemployment insurance programs by paying an extra payment of $300 a week and extending benefits to gig workers and to those who were out of work for six months or more. Including the federal programs, the number of Americans receiving some form of jobless aid peaked at more than 33 million in June 2020.
